Mitutanka was a Mandan village and the home of Sheheke Shote, or White Coyote, who was born in 1766 at On-a-Slant village during a Golden Age of Mandan culture and became known as the Mandan Indian Diplomat for his hospitality and diplomacy. Mitutanka was established by survivors of the devastating smallpox epidemic of 1781, and when Sheheke became chief the village had 113 earthen lodges. When Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery reached the Mandan villages in the fall of 1804, Sheheke chose to befriend them, declaring, "If we eat, you shall eat. If we starve, you must starve also." His tribe supplied the Americans with corn, beans, and meat through the brutal winter at Fort Mandan, built across the river from Mitutanka. After the explorers returned from the Pacific, Sheheke accepted their invitation to visit President Thomas Jefferson, traveling with his wife Yellow Corn and their son White Painted Horse to St. Louis and many cities in the Eastern U.S. After meeting Jefferson at the White House in December 1806, Sheheke called himself the "brother of the President of the United States." His return to Mitutanka in September was a time of celebration for the Mandan. He died in battle with the Hidatsa in 1812, and the Mandan abandoned Mitutanka after another smallpox epidemic nearly annihilated the tribe in 1837. Sheheke's descendants include many prominent members of the Three Affiliated Tribes.